Tool for removing material from well bore walls



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Nov. 30, 1954 H. SALVATORI ETAL TOOL FOR REMOVING MATERIAL FROM WELL BORE WALLS Filed May 4, 1951 United States Patent REMOVING MATERIAL FROM WELL BORE WALLS Application May 4, 1951, Serial No. 224,568 7 Claims. (Cl. 255-73) TOOL FOR This invention relates to well tools of a type for engaging and removing material from a well bore wall, and in certain respects is particularly concerned with improved reamer devices.

In well reamers and similar tools, comprising a tool body and a number of cutters or other wall engaging elements carried by the body, it is extremely important that the wall engaging elements be attached to the body as securely as possible. As will be appreciated, these elements and their mountings are subject to very great stresses in use, and unless securely fastened to the body may break loose and necessitate an expensive and time consuming fishing job. On the other hand, though these cutters or other elements should be very securely mounted to the body, they should also be mounted in a way permitting their easy removal and replacement.

The general object of the present invention is to provide an improved mounting arrangement for such tool elements, especially designed to facilitate rapid mounting and removal of the elements, and at the same time so constructed as to virtually eliminate any possibility that an element may be torn loose from the body in use. Particularly contemplated is an arrangement such that a cutter may be attached to a body by means of one or more easily'applied relatively light fasteners, while in use these fasteners are not subjected to the great stresses of operation. More specifically, the mounting is so constructed that all stresses on the cutter or element are transmitted directly to and are taken by the body itself, in a manner positively protecting the fasteners against failure. In the past, the fasteners themselves have been required to take a large part of the cutter stresses and as a result have in many instances failed, permitting detachment of the cutters.

To attain the above results, we employ an arrangement including a retaining or mounting member slidably mounted to the body for movement between an assembled or active position and a retracted cutter releasing position, together with a locking member which acts to hold the mounting member in active position. By virtue of its sliding mounting, the mounting member is retained by the body. itself against outward separation from the body, whileat the same time being easily removable when desired by that same sliding movement. The locking member abuts at opposite sides against the mounting member and an opposed body shoulder, so that all forces tending to retract the mounting member are transmitted directly to the body, which of course is built heavily enough to resist those forces. Preferably, the locking member has a pair of oppositely facing parallel surfaces extending transversely of the direction in which the mounting member is slidably movable and engaging correspondingly parallel surfaces on the mounting member and the body shoulder respectively.

The slidable cutter mounting member may serve as a support for one end of a shaft on which a rotatable cutter is carried. Preferably, this member is formed as an integral enlargement on the shaft. At the opposite end of the shaft, we may provide a second mounting member also slidably engaging the body for retention against outward separation from the body.

For mounting each cutter, the body may have at one side a main recess within which the cutter is received, and a pair of auxiliary recesses opening into opposite ends of the main recess for receiving the mounting members.. The mounting members may then have lateral surfaces 34 and 35 on "ice projections received in grooves in the auxiliary recess walls to guide the members for their sliding movement.

The above and other features and objects of the present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of the typical embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a well reamer embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken longitudithiiough one of the reamer cutters along line 22 0 1g.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse section through the lower cutter mounting member, taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary exploded perspective of the cutter shaft, its upper mounting enlargement, and the locking member; and i Fig. 5 is a fragmentary transverse section through the cutter taken on line 55 of Fig. l.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the illustrated well reaming tool 10 includes a tubular externally cylindrical vertically extending body 11 connectable into a tool string by the usual upper and lower threaded ends 12 and 13. At locations spaced circularly about its outer surface, body 11 carries three or more elongated wangularly extending rotary reamer cutters 14 for engaging and reaming a well bore wall.

Each of the cutters 14 is partially received within an elongated partial cylindrical recess 15 in the body of a diameter only slightly larger than the cutter. At the upper and lower ends of this main cutter receiving recess '15, the body contains a pair of upper and lower reduced its illustrated active position within recess 17 by first,

moving the member into main recess 15 and then sliding flanges into their respective body grooves. At its lower end, member 18 has a transverse end surface 22 abutting directly against member 18 to the body. Screw 24 extends through member 18 and into the body to stabilize the member in its active position.

The upper end of shaft 20 has an integral enlargement 25 received within the upper auxiliary recess 16 and serving as a second mounting member for positioning the upper end of the shaft. The lower portion 26 of upper recess 16 is of a transverse configuration corresponding to the lower auxiliary recess, as seen in Fig. 3, the side wall of this portion of the upper recess having undercut grooves 27 receiving lateral flanges 28 on shaft enlargement 25 to slidably mount that shaft enlargement for movement toward and away from the main recess 15. The upper portion 29. of upper auxiliary recess 16 is of a width at all points corresponding to the inner flanged portions of shaft enlargement 25, so that the shaft may be slid upwardly into this upper portion of recess 16 and then be removed outwardly from the body. A screw 30 retains the shaft enlargement to the body in its illustrated active position.

An essentially square locking member 31 is receivable within the upper portion 29 of recess 16 and in the upward retracting path of shaft enlargement 25 to positively maintain the enlargement in its active position. This locking member has a pair of parallel surfaces 32 and 33 at its upper and lower sides extending perpendicularly to the upward path of movement of the shaft enlargement 25, and engaging correspondingly parallel transverse the body and shaft enlargement respectively. The width of locking member 31 is sub stantially equal to the width of the upper portion 29 of recess 16. t The locking member is fastened to the tool body by a screw 36,. whose head may be protected by ;reception within a counterbore 136.

In mounting one of the cutters 14 to body 11, the first step is to insert the lower mounting member 18 into main recess 15 and then slide it downwardly into lower auxiliary recess 17, after which this mounting member is fastened to the body by screw 24. Roller 14 is then slipped onto shaft 20, and the shaft enlargement 25 inserted into upper portion 29 of auxiliary recess 16 and slid downwardly to its illustrated active position. As the shaft moves downwardly, its lower end moves into recess 19 in the lower mounting member 18, so that both ends of the shaft are accurately positioned. Application of screw 30 fastens the shaft enlargement in its active position. Locking member 31 may then be inserted into the upper portion of recess 16 and attached to the body by screw 36. If it is desired to remove the cutter 14, it is necessary merely to remove screws 30 and 36 after which locking member 31, the shaft and the cutter may be easily slipped out of the body.

The illustrated mounting arrangement is so designed that the various forces exerted against cutter M in operation are all transmitted directly to and taken by the body itself in a manner eliminating any possibility of the failure of the various fasteners 24-, 3d and 36, and consequently assuring against the detachment of the cutter from the body by those forces. For instance, movement of mounting member 18, the shaft or the cutter radially outwardly from the body is positively prevented by reception of flanges on member 18 and shaft enlargement 25 within the body undercuts. Downward forces against member 18 are transmitted directly to the body shoulder 23 at the end of auxiliary recess 17. Upward forces against shaft enlargement 25 are transmitted through locking member 31 to body shoulder 34. It is par ticularly noted that by virtue of the extension of the upper and lower surfaces 32 and 33 on locking member 31 transversely of the upward retracting path of shaft enlargement 25, no appreciable force is exerted against fastener 36 tending to break the locking member loose from the body.

The formation of shaft 20 to have an integral enlargement 25 at its upper end, rather than a separately formed upper mounting member, results in the attainment of several distinct and highly important advantages. In the first place, such formation of the shaft in tegrally with its upper mounting member positively prevents any rotation of the shaft, and any wear which might result from such rotation. Further, the integral arrangement is much stronger than would be a separately formed type of construction, and yet at the same time minimizes the space required for the upper mounting assembly, the shaft enlargement being of a considerably shorter axial dimension than would be possible if it were formed separately in the manner of the lower mounting member.

We claim:

1. A well reamer comprising a reamer body having in its side a main recess and a pair of auxiliary recesses opening into opposite ends of said main recess, a rotatable reamer cutter in said main recess, a shaft mounting said cutter, and having an integral mounting enlargement at one end receivable in a first one of said auxiliary recesses, a mounting member receivable in the second auxiliary recess to mount the opposite end of said shaft, a sliding connection mounting said member for sliding movement into said second auxiliary recess from the main recess and to an active position, said body having a transverse shoulder at an end of said second auxiliary recess facing said main recess and abutting against said member in said active position to take forces exerted thereby, said sliding connection comprising laterally projecting means on said shaft enlargement and undercut means in the body interfitting with said laterally projecting means to guide the enlargement for sliding movement in said first auxiliary recess toward and away from the main recess and between an active position retaining the cutter to the body and a retracted position, said first auxiliary recess having a widened portion at the retracted position of said shaft enlargement permitting removal of the shaft and cutter together when the enlargement is retracted, a rigid locking member attachable to the body in said widened portion of the first auxiliary recess at a side of the shaft enlargement away from the main recess and engaging said enlargement to prevent its retraction from said active position, said locking member having a pair of oppositely facing parallel surfaces extending in 4. planes perpendicular to the path of sliding movement of said enlargement and abutting against the enlargement and body respectively so that forces tending to retract the enlargement are transmitted directly therethrough and taken substantially entirely by the body, said parallel faces having portions in alinement in the direction of retracting movement of the shaft enlargement, and a screw extending through said locking member and connected into said body to removably attach said locking member to the body.

2. A well tool comprising a body adapted to be lowered into a well, an element carried at a side of said body and adapted to engage and act against the well bore wall, said body containing a recess adjacent said element having an undercut side wall, attaching means for retaining said element on the body, said attaching means comprising a mounting member in said recess having a portion slidably fitting into said undercut side wall and guiding the mounting member for sliding movement between. an active position in which it holds said element to the body and a retractedposition permitting removal of the element from the body, said mounting member being adapted to be disengaged from said undercut wall for removal from the body by virtue of the sliding movement permitted by said undercut wall, a rigid locking member receivable in said recess in a locking position beyond said mounting member and engageable thereby to maintain said mounting member in said active position, said locking member and said element being positioned at opposite sides of said mounting member, said body having an integral shoulder engageable with said locking member at a side opposite its area of engagement with the mounting member so that forces tending to displace the mounting member to retracted position are transmitted through the locking member to the body, and a fastener in addition to said body and said mounting member and locking member removably fastening said locking member to the body in said recess, said locking member being rigid and of fixed dimension and adapted for insertion and withdrawal in predetermined directions and without change in dimension into and out of its active locking position in said recess of engagement with said mounting member and said shoulder, said mounting member and said body shoulder having surface areas which engage opposite sides of said locking member in said locking position thereof and which do not diverge relatively apart in the direction of withdrawal of the locking member from said recess, whereby the forces transmitted through said locking member from the mounting member to the body shoulder do not tend to wedge said locking member out of its active lockmg position.

3. A well tool as recited in claim 2, in which said recess in the body has a laterally enlarged portion within which said locking member is received and through which said mounting member is removable from the body.

4. A well tool comprising a body adapted to be lowered into a well, a rotary reamer cutter carried at a side of said body, said body containing a recess adjacent said cutter having an undercut side wall, attaching means for retaining said cutter on the body, said attaching means comprising a mounting member in said recess having a portion slidably fitting into said undercut side wall and guiding the mounting member for sliding movement between an active position in which it holds said cutter to the body and a retracted position permitting removal of the cutter from the body, said mounting member being adapted to be disengaged from said undercut wall for ing an integral shoulder at an end of said recess engageable with said locking member at a side opposite its area of engagement with the mounting member so that forces tending to displace the mounting member to retracted position are transmitted through the locking member to the body, said mounting member in said active position being spaced from said shoulder, and a fastener in addition to said body and said mounting member and locking member removably fastening said locking member to the body in said recess, said locking member being rigid and of fixed dimension and adapted for insertion and Withdrawal in predetermined direction and without change in dimension into and out of its active locking position in said recess of engagement with said mounting member and said shoulder, said mounting member and said body shoulder having surface areas which engage opposite sides of said locking member in said locking position thereof and which do not diverge relatively apart in the direction of Withdrawal of the locking member from said recess, whereby the forces transmitted through said locking member from the mounting member to the body shoulder do not tend to wedge said locking member out of its active locking position.

5. A well tool as recited in claim 4, including a shaft rotatably mounting said cutter and extending entirely therethrough, said mounting member comprising an enlargement formed integrally on one end of said shaft.

6. A well tool as recited in claim 5, in which said recess in the body has a laterally enlarged portion Within which said locking member is received and through which said mounting member is removable from the body, said tool including a second mounting member received in a second recess in said body and receiving the second end of said shaft, said second recess having a laterally undercut side Wall with which said second mounting member interfits to guide the second mounting member for sliding movement into and out of said second recess.

7. A Well tool as recited in claim 2, in which said locking member has a pair of oppositely facing substantially directly parallel planar surfaces extending perpendicular to the path of sliding movement of said mounting member and abutting against correspondingly parallel surfaces on the mounting member and said body shoulder respectively.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,376,302 Wooldridge Apr. 26, 1921 1,723,380 Scott Aug. 6, 1929 2,033,638 Koppl Mar. 10, 1936 2,138,007 Howard at al. Nov. 29, 1938 2,189,035 Squires Feb. 6, 1940 2,189,037 Harrington Feb. 6, 1940 2,189,040 Jones Feb. 6, 1940 2,234,219 Anderson Mar. 11, 1941 2,260,366 Childs Oct. 28, 1941 2,272,405 Grant et al. Feb. 10, 1942 2,306,492 Noble Dec. 29, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 446,307 Great Britain Apr. 28, 1936 

